


home is wherever I'm with you

by panchostokes (badwolfrun)



Series: Prompt Fics [90]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Episode: s01e02 Metal Saw, F/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:29:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25526719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badwolfrun/pseuds/panchostokes
Summary: An exploration of the ending of Metal Saw, and what it meant for Jack and Sarah.
Relationships: Sarah Adler/Jack Dalton (MacGyver TV 2016)
Series: Prompt Fics [90]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1540795
Comments: 8
Kudos: 6





	home is wherever I'm with you

**Author's Note:**

> for and-bingo-was-his-name-o, who sent for the prompt "I am home" and I fully intended to make this fluffy and it turned into this angst feast.

The tension in Sarah’s body was melting away as he held her, cradling the back of her head, his fingers intertwined into her hair, pulling her against his own head. He could feel her breath, short, hot, flustered, puffing onto his face, sliding into his lips. 

Her hand splayed out from the fist that had previously pounded--well, it felt more like a heavy tap to him, but he could still feel the phantom impact throbbing as his previously clumsy grasp on the angry woman had settled into a much more mutual embrace--it slides up his shoulder, gripping him as if she were going to fall away into the depths of the earth.

His hand slid down her head and fell to her waist. Her hand crawled over his shoulder, onto his back, the other hand remained attached to his cheek, no longer clawing at it but stroking it. The pulled tighter against each other, he whispered soft affirmations and smiled, a true smile that made her feel a little more safe, more calm. 

“Jack? You ready to head home?” Mac’s voice called to him, seemingly miles away, it just barely reached his ears.

“I am home,” he whispered softly as he brushes up against Sarah’s cheek.

He didn’t notice, because soon after they break away and walk with arms around each other’s shoulders, Jack still taking the lead--but Sarah’s body stiffened, the tension returned, but it wasn’t the anger that had overtaken her before, this time...it was a certain kind of sadness. 

The sadness that he didn’t know, that his home was no longer in her heart.

She should tell him.

“Jack, listen...” Her voice quivered, the cries still bobbing in her throat. She wiped her eyes before gently retrieving her gun from Jack. 

“Shh, shh, shh, it’s alright, Sarah. We can talk on the jet.”

But they never did. She fell for his charm, as she always did, and they cuddled in the back of the airplane, holding hands and talking about nothing in particular--Jack told her a few stories of his missions with Mac which made her laugh softly, and feel guilty that she wanted to ruin this bonding, the first opportunity they had in _years_ just to break his heart. 

So she waited until the last possible second, until he could meet the reason he had been evicted from the place in her heart that she had always wanted to reserve for him, but she had gotten tired of waiting. 

And beyond that, both of them were too important, their roles too necessary in the safety of the world to give it up for a relationship that could compromise their job performance.

As if it hadn’t already.

“I tried to tell you,” she whispered into his ear.

“It’s okay,” he whispered back, his voice uncharacteristically softened. Silenced. 

She knew it wasn’t okay.

She tried to get a glimpse at his expression, searching for something that would make her believe she made the wrong choice in staying with Jeff. 

And while the defeated, almost angry expression on his face cracked her heart, it wasn’t enough to bust it open entirely. He stood his ground, made no move to try and win her over. On some level, she knew he wouldn’t, he respected her too much and respected boundaries enough not to intervene in the affairs of the heart. 

She smiled at the rest of the team, grateful that they cared enough about Jack to come to her aid, to the lengths they had gone. She would have done the same, if the roles were reversed. 

She walked away, unknowing that Jack had followed after, trying to grab onto the ghost of what could have been.


End file.
